Baltimore County Police Chief James Johnson [above] (whose jurisdiction, oddly, does not include the city of Baltimore but all that surrounds it) loves gun control. He loves it so much that he was part of the hearings on the spontaneous feel-good gun control legislation suggested after the Sandy Hook School shooting. The hearings took place on January 30, 2013. During the line of questioning, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre was asked a (pardon the pun) loaded question. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois asked the question . . .
“We need the firepower and the ability to protect ourselves from our government” — from our government, from the police — “if they knock on our doors and we need to fight back. Do you agree with that point of view?”
LaPierre responded by saying:
“I think without any doubt, if you look at why our founding fathers put it there, they had lived under the tyranny of King George and they wanted to make sure that these free people in this new country would never be subjugated again and have to live under tyranny.
I also think, though, that what people all over the country fear today is being abandoned by their government. If a tornado hits, if a hurricane hits, if a riot occurs that they’re going be out there alone. And the only way they’re going protect themselves in the cold and the dark, when they’re vulnerable is with a firearm. And I think that indicates how relevant and essential the Second Amendment is in today’s society to fundamental human survival.”
LaPierre mentions the rioting (that hadn’t happened yet) which means his statement has proven to be correct in light of the events the unfolded in Ferguson, Missouri and are currently occurring in Baltimore, Maryland. Senator Durbin quickly turned to the Baltimore County Police Chief.
Well, Chief Johnson, you’ve heard it. The belief of the NRA is the Second Amendment has to give American citizens the firepower to fight back against you, against our government.
LaPierre was not allowed to comment further about his statement that was misconstrued, however, Chief Johnson was allowed to respond.
I find it to be scary, creepy. And it’s simply just not based on logic. Certainly, law enforcement across this nation is well-prepared to deal with any natural or man-made disaster that will occur. And, frankly, I just — I can’t relate to that kind of thinking.
He was proven incorrect. Baltimore is obviously not prepared to deal with the situations LaPierre described. It is not strange to me that the NRA was correct and an anti-gunner was proven wrong-in his own city.
Maryland has some of the most strict gun laws in the country yet Baltimore, much like Chicago, remains one of the most dangerous and violent cities in America. Maybe now Chief Johnson can “relate to that kind of thinking.” Perhaps now he can understand that LaPierre was the one correct and “based on logic” while his city burns.
Of course, Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake deserves some credit for helping disprove Chief Johnson. When police were asked why they are watching the looting and doing nothing to stop the crime they responded, “Ask the mayor.” She gave those wishing to riot free reign to destroy what they wanted.
Sources: Daily Caller and Fox News
We’ll never know how prepared Baltimore law enforcement was, because the mayor ordered them to stand down and let the looting proceed.
Then the mayor asked the governor to bring in the national guard to restore order.
Seems like she’s going to extreme lengths if all she wants to do is give the press something to talk about besides the Freddie Gray murder.
Baltimore law enforcement was not prepared to defy the stupid —– and enforce the law despite her. Therefore, we DO know how prepared they were, “not. at. all”
Absolute dregs of humanity. I swear, if the whole D.C. trash-heap got nuked tomorrow, I wouldn’t shed a fracking tear.
Save the monuments, use a neutron bomb.
Baltimore city officials are now it the middle of a CYA riot.
That is classic.
Chief Johnson is Baltimore County. The riots are in Baltimore City. The two are separate from each other and Chief Johnson has no sway on how policing is done in Baltimore City. That would be Chief Anthony Batts.
This article is poor reporting and should be deleted until the author gets their facts straight.
I had been under the impression that the Baltimore City police chief was black, guess I was right. But the point of the article still holds (to be a bit pedantic, tho, the expression is “free rein”, not “free reign”–just one of my grammatical pet peeves).
You want to talk about grammatical pet peeves? How about the three extra keystrokes to type “though?” Seriously, if you’re a, “Never end a sentence with a preposition,” type, you’re first against the wall.
While I think the points here are valid, the fact that Chief Johnson is the Baltimore County Police Chief and NOT the Baltimore City Police Chief (totally seperate juristictions) makes this article a bit off.
News flash: they’re all liberal, progressive douchebags. I say we return to space and nuke it from orbit.
Indeed. Someone failed to do their homework.
CONservatives never let facts get in the way of an argument.
“Baltimore County Police Chief James Johnson [above] (whose jurisdiction, oddly, does not include the city of Baltimore but all that surrounds it) loves gun control.”
The article makes clear that Chief Johnson is chief of the surrounding county, not the city of Baltimore. As you state, that’s Chief Batts. The point remains.
I don’t know about MD, but in TN the county sheriff has authority over the entire county. Even over incorporated cities with their own police forces. Admittedly, the sheriff of Shelby County doesn’t commit that many resources to Memphis, but he can if need be. All voters in the county, including those in incorporated cities, can vote in the sheriff’s election.
If people in the City of Baltimore vote in the election for the sheriff of Baltimore County, then I would say he has law enforcement authority in the city.
Did you even READ the FIRST SENTENCE??? Duh…product of the Baltimore schoolsystem? Wayne was/is right. this is for you 2 guys>>>
The parenthetical in the first sentence was not there earlier.
Way to go simply assuming the commenter is an idiot.
I don’t see how the jurisdiction changes the point of the article, which was that civilian disarmament ideology was proven wrong as usual, to the detriment of the disarmed, law-abiding people.
It says at the very beginning that his jurisdiction did NOT include Baltimore City.
Young Thomas, do I understand that you, personally, are guaranteeing that not one yoot from surrounding county areas participated in those riots? That not one officer from the surrounding county participated in the surveillance of the violence, without doing shit? What, exactly, ARE you claiming?
>our government
Sorry Dick, yours is the exclusive “our”.
Cook it down a little further. . .
“the government of the United States is a function of “We the People…” without Sovereignty of the
Term “People,” there can be no Sovereignty of government.” [TERMS, J.M. Thomas R., 2012, pg. 80]
However the second amendment is a matter of SELF GOVERNANCE.
My government (governance) of myself. I don’t intend on asking anyone’s permission if I plan to start the next Civil War, or war with China [already in progress on their part], or in supporting or defending the Constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic. I don’t expect you’ll do so either (no, not even if you promise to).
[loosely paraphrased, TERMS, J.M. Thomas R., 2012]
>war with China [already in progress on their part]
LOL. You might have confused “war” with “trade”. 🙂
Ya, and you might have confused currency fixing, lead in baby toys and toothpaste, asbestos and mercury in sheetrock, using convict labor to under-cut world labor pricing, shooting lasers at our satellites, flooding our shores and inland states with “exchange translators”, CA hospitals where Chinese women fly in to give birth to U.S. citizens [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/maternity-hotel-chino-hills-california-chinese-women-birth_n_2231596.html], giving multi-stage to orbit technology [thank you Bill Clinton and LORAL] to our enemies, with NOT war. But you would be stupid crazy high.
The irony of accusing the Chinese of currency fixing when the good old US of A has the federal reserve, the premiere currency manipulators in the world.
The hilarity of griping about Chinese cheap labor for the demise of American manufacturing, as opposed to the short-sighted protectionism enacted by US politicians at the behest of economically ignorant unions.
The absurdity of declaring to be an act of war when people use the US law of birthright citizenship exactly as it was written.
Oh, as for rocket technology, last time I checked, the US still had the largest stash of ICBM’s. But let’s all freak out because the US won’t be able to threaten the entire world with nuclear annihilation without fear of retaliation. In other words, a slight retreat from absolute, total US hegemony is an act of war. This is what neocons actually believe. 🙂
Non-Conservative, Non-Americans fail to realize that the U.S. can declare war just by saying we’re not their ally [i.e., 1940’s Poland, 2015 Israel (thank you OMuslim! I was afraid I wasn’t going to live to see Armageddon)]. 70% of the reason you (and admittedly me as well) are afforded the freedom to type here is due to our DEAR old U.S. [Under GOD], and that’s not even counting the technology.
YOU didn’t build that
So how exactly is China actively engaging in war with the US (as you say, on their part) when it is the US who is is declaring secret wars on the rest of the world?
LOL @ the irony of declaring that we have free speech because of the US when the US government is trying its very best to destroy the 1st amendment.
“Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois asked the question . . .” the party of gun control is not the Democratic but the Democrat. The liberal left has consistantly used the word Democratic when speaking about Democrats…
Dick Durbin describing GITMO (SanDALS Presidential Pardon Catch and Release [before they’ve even learned to shower] resort for terrorists)
“If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime – Pol Pot or others – that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.” – Tricky Dick Durbin (Wikipedia)
Against Iraq, For Abortion, Largest proponent of the Dream Act, you just can’t find this concentration of B.S. existing in the wild except that which springs from the evil loins of the (D).
I blame you O-Voters,
. . .you suck so bad, my ears are popping.
LaPierre’s point still stands, however. He was prophetic in his statements. And the facts regarding gun control still stand. Those laws are on the books, and city goes along.
Also Neither party are friends of the 2nd amendment. There are enemies to liberty everywhere in the government. Look at what Reagan did. Look at what Mitch McConnell did with the nomination of Lynch, a gun hater, to AG? They’re “Republicans”…
Must be a whole different culture in Durbinland, because if he asked those questions in my corner of the world,he would get a whole lot of eye rolling.
Whether Wayne was right or not might be a moot point of the investigation into their finances gathers any steam. He might, just might, become a felon and lose all his gun rights. Dick “The Turban” Durbin’s question might be more prescient if they come to take him away. Would Wayne fight back? Nope.
That idiot hack’s “evidence” was a shorthand name given to whichever account first processed the NRA donation. So he says (and why would he lie, only every article he’s written was a hatchet job on the NRA, specifically). If it was so easy to take down the NRA, the DNC would be on it by now. Or should I say NAGR (who I should assume are the ones keeping the story alive in the forums)?
The principle holds true even if the Police Chief of Baltimore County holds no authority over Baltimore City. Ultimately, this mayor who announced she wanted to give those who wanted to destroy the space and time to do that, is responsible….or did she receive her marching orders from higher up, a few miles southwest in D.C.?
The real truth with LaPierre spoke articulately is that we have the responsibility and U.S. Constitutional rights to defend ourselves, our family, and our possessions. The property and business owners in Baltimore had less defense than did many in Ferguson. I hope America learns something from these recent events. If not, we will have many more devastated business owners, and citizens in the years ahead.
Perhaps now he can understand that LaPierre was the one correct and “based on logic” while his city burns.
I rather doubt it. His response would be to apply more of the same failed policies.
“Certainly, law enforcement across this nation is well-prepared to deal with any natural or man-made disaster that will occur.”
Why is “law enforcement” dealing with natural disasters? Are there laws against natural disasters? Who will they arrest? What will the charge be?
Why is “law enforcement” being used as a Swiss Army Knife by the government? Why is “law enforcement” there, at every turn, every day, all over the country?
Is it such a bad thing that somewhere, sometimes, laws are going unenforced?
Wonder who the looters were who got lootin’ early and snatched all the Class II, III and IV pharmaceuticals from that torched CVS in Baltimore? Haven’t heard the usual hue and cry from the Drug Warriors about that opportunity. Or tragedy. Depending on how you feel about the War On Drugs.
Eagerly anticipating the first Death-From-Overdose-Of-Whatever attributed to that theft.
well, what Johnson did ALSO do was tell some lies in the effort to get Maryland’s AWB passed in 2013. stuff along the lines of the explosion of violence he’s seen every since the federal AWB sunset.
so to hell with THAT guy.
Baltimore, like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles etc, is further proof of the socialist hell holes that our major urban cities have become. All this debt, corruption, and ineptitude courtesy of the rights infringing democrats! The party who’s belief system is it is better to control the masses when you take away the rights of the citizenry. If living like a third world citizen appeals to you keep voting these ignorant fools in.
So, is Baltimore the new Detroit? All the pieces seem to be in place. Don’t think I’d want to live there after this.
Mr. Johnson is obviously a tool. Never trust anyone that doesn’t believe in your right to defend your family, self, and property.
The authorities depend upon people to be civilized and act according to the rules of law for cities to work. Mr. Johnson’s sentiment is proof. Unfortunately, the irony is that the closer you get to a major city the less civilized people, including the authorities, are.
Thanks to the economy, lawfare driven injustice, and the empowerment of the entitlement class, every major city is a powder keg. The new spark on the scene is social media. It’s going to be a long hot summer.
This who’s in charge discussion totally missed the point of this Web site. Baltimore is a disarmed city. The good guys can’t protect themselves. Only the government at all levels has guns. The government choose to let the bad guys “destroy “.
Thank you, sir. The whole point was LaPierre’s prophetic words. I reread what I wrote several times and no where did I say he even had jurisdiction in Baltimore city because it was 100% irrelevant to what this was about. – the statements made in 2013 by Johnson and LaPierre, instigated by Durbin. Nonetheless, Baltimore city is in Baltimore county.
“Certainly, law enforcement across this nation is well-prepared to deal with any natural or man-made disaster that will occur.”
[facepalm] He didn’t follow the news after Katrina hit, did he?
It seems to me that absolutely no one on the anti side OR the undecided side pays any attention to the other areas of the country. They continue to fall for lies which have been proven to be lies over, and over, and over. Promising the same catastrophies which failed to manifest last time you promised them should earn you laughter, ridicule, derision, not election. But it continues to work for them, why would we think they would ever stop?
Just goes to prove cops are not our friends. They look at us like we’re the enemy and will support every single anti-gun piece of legislation because it takes the power away from us and gives them more power to harass and brutalize people.
ie, moving us toward a police state. Would we expect the police to oppose this?
Not really. It’s sickening nontheless.
And that guy looks like a little putz in a suit four sizes too big anyway.
How many times does Wayne have to be proven right (riots, good guy with a gun in schools) before grabbers and NRA haters alike start believing him?
More white guys are killed by police than any other Race yet where is the rioting?
the US should follow the Asian way of curing Riots! run them over with Tanks!
The rich want too remove our guns because they are afraid because of greed they want too keep what they stole!
we have become so PC brainwashed, people are afraid to say the truth, that most of these rioters are greedy and want something for nothing they really don’t care about the Victims or their families it’s just about what they can destroy and Steal;
of course having people in high places give them a free pass because of PC doesn’t hurt either! typical cowardly spineless worms! {Politicians} who only invent policies furthering their own careers!
Dude! Your post is schitzophrenic! Seek help!
Forget Sandy Hook for a moment – how about Hurricaine Sandy? There were folks within the NYC city limits huddling in the dark and arming themselves with pickaxes and baseball bats to fend off looters after authorities, including New York’s Finest, abandoned their neighborhoods in the wake of the storm. This is in NYC, with a very well-funded and efficient (effecient at what . . . ) police force, but in a city of 8 million people they can’t be everywhere, especially when roads and bridges are crapped out.
LaPierre’s answer to the question was masterful, even if it was completely ignored by that Dick.
Free rein.
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